Affection
by Azoural
Summary: Naruto's spamming of Kage Bunshin has been his signature move ever since he learned it from the Forbidden Scroll of Seals. But back then, when everything was simpler, and maybe lonelier, what if Naruto had found another use to his clones? Or the one in which Naruto is a lonely child who seeks affection wherever he can and ends up with a slight case of dissociative identity
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize as canon does not belong to me (basically).**

* * *

Affection

* * *

Prologue

Naruto shuffled under the sheets with a soft groan. Right and left, tummy and back, legs in and out... He was trying in vain to find the perfect position, the one that would finally lead him to peaceful slumber. He settled for a moment on his left side, eyes firmly closed and hugging the covers, before exhaling loudly and turning to lay on his back. Sleep wasn't to come so easily tonight. The day had been eventful enough that he had assumed he would pass out as soon as his head touched the pillow, but his mind had other plans.

He couldn't help looking to his right once again as he grinned in the darkness of his flat. The moon was high in the midnight sky, and just bright enough to reflect on the metal of Iruka-sensei's forehead protector that was resting innocently on his cupboard.

The boy almost couldn't believe it. He had passed. He had _finally done it._

The giddiness and leftover adrenaline were too much for him and he put his head under the pillow with a squeal of delight (or a manly laugh depending on who you asked), kicking the sheets in excitement and creating a masterful tangled mess around his legs while at it. Sleep was the farthest thing from his mind right now, no matter how much he tried to contain himself.

He had waited for this for so long! Even the whole fiasco with Mizuki and the fox demon thing that he still didn't really understand weren't enough to dampen his good mood.

Remembering Iruka-sensei's wounds did make him frown and settle a bit in his bed, but the smile was back when he thought of the ramen they had shared at Ichiraku after getting his sensei checked out of the hospital. Medic-nin worked _fast._ Also, his favourite sensei was tougher than he thought, lecturing him even as half of his face was covered in bandages.

All in all, Naruto had a new-found appreciation for Iruka-sensei's skills as well as a new-found dislike for shuriken. He tried not to dwell on this too much, because disliking a particular weapon shouldn't even be a thing when aiming for Hokage, but the image of the giant star sticking out of his sensei's back made him go cold. A cloud had obscured the moonlight by now, leaving him to scowl in the darkness. He touched his cheek where warm blood had once been. His sensei had gotten hurt because of him. Because he had placed foolish hope in the words of that bastard Mizuki. His sensei... whose status as an orphan was apparently also his fault.

Naruto grimaced in confusion, staring unseeingly at the ceiling. He had never paid much attention to the history of the Kyuubi attack, or rather his questions regarding this particular subject had always been rejected with much more vitriol than any other of his attempts, so he had refrained from asking again.

Now he knew why that had been the case. Sort of.

And yet, Iruka-sensei had acknowledged him. He had protected him, had properly looked at all that Naruto was and hoped to be, and had accepted him. There was a warm flutter in his stomach at the thought. Iruka-sensei was the best person in the whole world and no one would ever convince him otherwise.

Mizuki's smirk flashed to the forefront of Naruto's mind.

The boy sighed and closed his eyes. This had been a very long day.

About an hour of shuffling later, sleep still eluded him and he shuddered in his silent flat. His mind was still whirling with thoughts of hot ramen and tears in gentle eyes. Iruka-sensei had been warm when he had hugged him. Now, even as he properly tucked all his limbs under the covers and curled up in a ball, he shivered slightly at the cold reigning in the room. Had the heater broken again? No. It was something else. A feeling he knew all too well… but didn't want to acknowledge right now. He had already bawled his eyes out enough for a lifetime because of it. A stray thought led him to wonder what it would be like to live with his sensei, or even Old-man the Third.

That's when he had an epiphany.

Mind still on the events of the day, he sat up eagerly and crossed his legs, almost falling over in his haste to free his legs against the sheets trapping them. He brought his hands up and formed the hand-seal he had learned only a few hours ago, before focusing the tingly feeling around his belly button and pushing_ outward_.

In front of him, mirroring his cross-legged position on the other side of the bed, a Kage Bunshin appeared in a plume of smoke.

He pumped a fist in the air victoriously, not willing to admit out-loud that he had momentarily feared it wouldn't work this time, and that earlier had all been some sort of fluke.

This was so much easier than the usual clones. Why was this not taught at the Academy? He would have definitely graduated long ago if he had known about this.

"This is so weird…"

The voice of his clone startled him and he squinted in the obscure surroundings. "What is...?"

"I mean, it feels like I'm myself you know?" the clone replied, shifting and observing his hands, "I don't feel like a clone..."

"Hey! I'm the real Naruto!" the boy huffed indignantly, pointing his finger in the general direction of the clone.

"Hn! What if _I _was the original and you're trying to steal my place?"

"No way! I would know."

"Would you really...? I feel like myself though... Just, as if I had switched positions on the bed."

Naruto paused at that. That freaked him out a bit.

He prepared to dispel the clone when the moonlight finally made a comeback in the room. His mirror image was staring at him and he stared right back. He tilted his head to the side, and the clone followed his movements with his eyes, but gave no indications that he would replicate the gestures.

"How is it?" the clone asked out-loud and put a hand behind his neck self-consciously.

"Amazing..." Naruto whispered before extending his arm and poking the cheek of the sole other current inhabitant of the flat, "It's so real I don't think I could tell if I were a clone myself."

They cringed at that, both a bit uncomfortable with the concept.

"Weird."

"Yeah."

Naruto and his clone smiled at each other.

"It's still pretty cool though, like... having a twin maybe?"

"I don't know, is it really the same?"

"Well I don't know either, don't ask me!"

"Heh heh, sorry..."

The room fell silent again for a few minutes before the clone broke it:

"So, does this qualify as talking to myself?"

"No way! Only old people and nutcases do that."

"You're right, I'm normal so it can't be the same thing."

Naruto let himself fall on his back, making the bed bounce and his clone sputter.

"Hey!"

The boy ignored him and crossed his arms behind his head, contemplative again. His clone silently joined him soon enough and laid on his side in order to look at the one who claimed to be the original.

"Don't stare, it's weird." Naruto muttered after some time, breaking the silence at the same time he broke his staring contest with one specific stain on the ceiling.

"... I never realized."

"What...?"

"I look super weak." the clone suddenly despaired while poking Naruto's nose.

"Oi!" Naruto batted at the offending appendage.

"It doesn't make me happy either, you know!"

"Well you don't have to be so rude about it then!"

"Whatever, we're the same person so who cares?"

Naruto dismissed the rhetorical question, "Besides, it's probably just because of the night cap."

The clone nodded in agreement, "I can't remove it though."

"Yeah, it adds to my cuteness factor..."

Both original and clone sighed heavily. Naruto's sigh changed midway to a huge yawn and he rubbed his bleary eyes.

"I'm even more tired than before..."

"I feel tired too..."

They glanced at each other.

"It's awkward to sleep with someone else though, I think."

"Agreed."

"But I did make a clone so that I wouldn't be..." Naruto trailed off as he scanned the otherwise empty bedroom.

"Yeah... Plus I'm a boy."

"And don't brothers sleep together when they're young? I heard something about that back at the orphanage."

"But I'm not a kid."

"I'm not a kid either!"

"...Dude."

"Right. Anyway. I don't get why it needs to be at a specific age. Also, why is it okay with boys but not with girls?"

"Because that's pervy apparently, so I have to wait until I'm older." the other quirked an eyebrow, as if saying 'age again? What does it have to do with anything!' – "I don't really get it."

"But it's just sleeping..."

The boys pondered the intricacies of social conduct for a moment, until they looked back at each other again.

"There's always 'that'."

"Eeeeh, really...? Who would be the one to do it then?"

"You, obviously."

"Hey! Why does it have to be me?"

"Because I'm the original so I'm the boss, duh!" Naruto smugly declared, sending a smirk at the protesting clone.

"That's so unfair! You don't even know for sure whether you're the original!"

"I _do_ know!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too! And I can always dispel you to prove it." he gave the finishing blow with a victorious grin and watched his clone pale considerably under the moonlight.

"Wouldn't that, you know... kill me?"

Naruto blanched before shaking his head, "Nah, it won't... I think."

"Don't say that so lightly! I don't want to die!"

Naruto lost his smug grin and gulped.

"I can't tell what happened last time, but even if I don't remember feeling like I died..."

They looked at each other again and simultaneously put a hand on each other's shoulder.

""Let's not try it.""

"But you're still the one doing 'that'."

"Pfff you suck... Whatever, I'm too tired to argue with myself."

And with those wise words, the clone put his hands in the Ram position and called out his favoured technique against pervy old ninjas:

"Oiroke no Jutsu!"

The mattress sagged under the additional weight, and once the smoke had dissolved to nothingness a busty blonde had replaced Naruto's clone in all her naked glory.

The boy nodded in approval, "Perfect! Now, let's go to sleep, I wanna know what's so special about sleeping with a girl."

"I'm not a real girl though, so I don't know if it's the same," the clone pointed out while gathering the sheets closer to herself as she shivered, "also we're the same person." She then deadpanned as a gust of wind from the window made her tremble from head to toe: "Okay, no way am I gonna sleep naked."

"What, Miss Naruko is embarrassed?" Naruto snickered while watching his clone in greater detail as she moved to grab a pajama from the drawer, proud that his Henge was indeed as perfect as it looked in the mirror when he practiced to better his technique.

"Embarrassed of this amazing body?" she asked while striking a provocative pose. "Don't you mean _you _are the one who is intimidated by the mere possibility of sleeping with such a perfect beauty?"

Naruto giggled and gave his clone a thumbs up and a foxy grin which she returned, swaying her hips exaggeratedly in front of the mirror as she came back until she reached the bed and gave him a high-five.

"Mastering techniques left and right... I'm so cool. Definitely Hokage material."

"I'm the one who will be Hokage!"

"We're the same, dumbass!"

"Oh, right. This is gonna take some time."

"Except that _I _will be the very first female Hokage!"

Naruto gasped. "Unfair! That's cheating! You're not even a real girl!"

His clone cackled evilly and slumped on the mattress, pushing the original blond to the side with her butt when he didn't immediately move over to give her some breathing room.

"I could totally pull it off." she assured with a yawn she stifled with her sleeve, already closing her eyes and snuggling to the original Naruto in order to hog some body warmth.

"But... I don't want to be Hokage as a girl...!" said boy whimpered pathetically.

"Who cares... Boy or girl, I'm still the same Naruto Uzumaki, the ninja who will surpass all the previous Hokages!" she enthused sleepily.

Naruto pouted. Still, that wouldn't be fair...

His clone giggled. "Everything is easier as a girl anyway. The Old-man would fall over himself to give me the hat." she muttered smugly, before a kick to the shins made her yelp in surprise, "Hey!"

"No shortcuts!" the original Naruto scolded gleefully, glad to have found a loophole in his clone's logic.

"You didn't have to kick me!"

Naruto snickered and relaxed when his clone's body temperature finally started to become less freezing as they snuggled deeper under the covers. He lost his grin when he realized he had effectively won an argument against himself, making his victory pointless.

"This is so weird."

"Shut it I wanna sleep."

"Do you think I can sleep?"

"I mean, maybe...? I don't know but since you're me you should be able to."

Silence permeated the air once again in the light of the night, but as his clone shifted a bit against him, Naruto reveled in the contact with another solid body, both as himself and as his Naruko-ed clone.

So this was what it felt like. To be brought close enough to feel the warmth emanating from another's skin, smell their scent and see every detail, with no intention of harming or being pushed away...

They both tentatively extended their arms to gather the other a bit closer, and fell asleep as one in no time.

Not once did Naruto feel the gaze of the Third Hokage of Konoha, frowning as he took in the boy's actions in his crystal orb.

* * *

To be continued...

* * *

**There you go for the first chapter of Affection, a story which may or may not be continued depending on the attention it'll get. I hope you enjoyed it so far as I have some ideas for the next few chapters.**

**Don't forget to leave a review! ;)**

**Preview:**

_The next day, Naruto woke up alone and with a new set of memories. After a moment of confusion, he realized where the unexpected addition had come from, and proceeded to spend some time sorting through the complete rendition of his clone's memories from the previous night. Which turned out to be pretty redundant all things considered, but he wasn't complaining, his prankster self having quickly realized the sheer potential of this aspect of the jutsu._

_ On another note, he didn't know for certain how his clone had been dispelled..._


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: see "Prologue"**

**The story so far: ****After a long day of important discoveries, Naruto cannot find sleep and decides to try to summon a clone with the new Jutsu he's just learned, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. What should have just been a way to cure loneliness for a bit, devolved into quite the strange conversation between original and clone, and ended with Naruto falling asleep together with his clone in female form. The Third Hokage is watching and worries about Naruto.**

* * *

Chapter 1

The next day, Naruto woke up alone and with a new set of memories. The feeling of talking to himself and the slight headache it gave him disoriented the boy for a moment as he sat up in his bed. After a moment of confusion, he realized where the unexpected addition had come from, and spent some time sorting through the complete rendition of his clone's memories from the previous night – which, well, turned out to be pretty repetitive all things considered (but he wasn't complaining, his prankster self having quickly realized the sheer potential of this aspect of the jutsu).

As soon as the memories were all sorted through, he realized he had trouble discerning which Naruto he had been. Anyone else would have been greatly disturbed by this discovery, but Naruto decided not to delve on it (more accurately, to ignore the issue) and focus on making sure to tell each clone he produced from then on that _he _was the original. He wouldn't have a clone try to replace him and become Hokage in his stead!

On another note, he didn't know for certain how his clone had been dispelled, but a blurry memory of being violently kicked out of the bed made him sheepishly realize that he may or may not have terrible bedside manners. Still, now that he knew what happened to a dispelled clone, he felt a bit less guilty about it.

As he dressed for the day and put his goggles on in order to preserve his _beautiful_ _shiny_ hitai-ate, he almost regretted the fact that he had fallen asleep at all last night. It had been the first time he'd ever shared his bed with someone else, and even if the hugging part had been great, he hadn't nearly had enough before he was lost to the world. Oh well. He figured he could always use the jutsu again.

His day after that saw him trip over the pile of pajamas left on the floor before rushing to get his registration papers done. It continued with his unwilling acquisition of an apprentice, and as the days went by and Konohamaru's training to replicate the Oiroke no Jutsu progressed, Naruto's mind was elsewhere, divided between his soon-to-be team assignment and that one night spent with his clone.

There was a strange longing when he thought about it.

He had yet to experiment again, hesitating every night when he got to bed. But each Naruko transformation he did to coach Konohamaru kept on reminding him of another version of the Henge, clad in comfy pajamas, snuggling under thin sheets and holding a blond boy close in order to share warmth.

Two set of memories who wanted the same thing, but were in fact slightly different. _Just_ different enough to confuse the _heck out _of him. Because he could remember her arms around him, but she could also remember his arms around her. He could remember almost feeling like a brother, and she could remember almost feeling like a sister.

It had been the first time he'd produced a clone for so long.

But it had also been the first time he'd maintained his Henge for so long.

All in all: he was confused.

So he ignored it all and focused on giving Konohamaru's tutor a lesson without batting an eyelash, even as he performed his masterful newly-named Harem no Jutsu.

And then the day of the team assignments came.

* * *

Naruto could feel the excitement coursing through his veins, and his knee bounced uncontrollably on the classroom's floor. His new team and him were the last people in the room, Sakura-chan grumbling from time to time (was she talking to herself? weird) and Sasuke-teme brooding as usual, although his stoic behaviour occasionally broke when he rubbed his mouth furiously as if remembering prior... events.

_Ew_. Kissing _Sasuke-teme_... Naruto wished he could forget already, but since the terrible accident had happened that very afternoon, it was proving to be somewhat challenging. Nevertheless, it turned out he had all the time in the world to try to forget, because hours passed slowly, and still no sign of their new sensei.

As excitement slowly dimmed and gave way to restlessness, Naruto could bet five bowls of ramen that even Sasuke was getting antsy. Conclusion: distraction was needed.

That's around the time the blond Uzumaki had a brilliant idea.

Was it because he was in a pranking mood (as usual really)? Or was it because the subject had stayed on his mind throughout the whole week despite his best attempts at ignoring it? In any cases, Naruto decided that the one prank he'd been thinking of wasn't enough. A back-up was necessary.

"Oiroke no Jutsu!"

His new pinkette teammate turned his way at his whisper-shout, glad that there was a distraction even if it came in the form of Naruto. Sasuke positioned himself slightly to the side in order to feint not being interested and still be able to see – boredom truly makes you do crazy things indeed.

"Naruto! What the heck are you doing!" Sakura hissed when the smoke of his jutsu dissipated and she could see the transformation.

"Pranking sensei of course!" Naruto replied enthusiastically with a thumbs up, "We're gonna pretend that I'm a girl and surprise sensei so bad, they're gonna _flip_!"

The newly Naruko-ed boy nodded to himself with conviction, before examining his Henge for any defect. Instead of the usual naked woman the jutsu was tailored for, he had succeeded in transforming in a female version of himself with his own clothes on, which were luckily baggy enough to accommodate any new assets. He twirled on himself once and grinned in satisfaction before strutting to the classroom door. Quickly checking the corridor to find it empty _still_, he grumbled a bit and decided to go through with his first prank as well. He dragged a chair close enough and strategically placed the blackboard eraser above the entrance.

"Hn... Like a Jounin is going to fall for such a simple booby trap..."

Naruto paid no attention to Sasuke-teme and put the chair back in place, just in time for a masked man to cross the threshold and receive a good amount of chalk on his messy grey-haired head.

The blond Uzumaki laughed loudly at their new sensei, proud and slightly incredulous that it had worked so well. But the real challenge was coming now: would his real prank work just as well...?

So there he stood, hopping from one foot to another excitedly, giving off sparkles and eyes wide open in anticipation. And all that Kakashi did was raise his one visible eyebrow and declare that he didn't like them, before telling them to join him on the rooftop and disappear.

"Disappearing after making us wait for so long..." Sakura grumbled, and the downtrodden Naruto could only agree.

This hadn't gone according to plan.

"Hey Naruto..." his crush's voice interrupted his thoughts of failure, "Of course I'm not involved in any of this, but what if when we reached the roof, you didn't release your Henge and continued to pretend that you have been a girl all along?" she suggested quietly.

"Heh...? But didn't you say-"

"It's only fair that he's pranked again since he was so rude and didn't even succeed in dodging your trap even though he's a jounin." Sakura cut off with a clenched fist and a tick mark.

"Hn, it could indeed confirm whether that man is truly an incompetent or not." a certain Uchiha got up and strolled closer.

Sakura squealed at Sasuke's unexpected approval and Naruto gaped for a few seconds before grinning brightly.

"... OK then, I'm counting on you to back me up!"

Let it not be said that Naruto would refuse an offer to prank anyone after all.

"Hey! I said I was not involved, don't include us in your plans! Right Sasuke?"

"We'll go along with what you say but don't expect anything more."

"Y-yes, exactly!"

Naruto grinned at the team-like feel this gave off.

"OK let's do this Team 7!"

* * *

Kakashi was beginning to wonder what the hell his maybe-team was up to, when the door to the rooftop finally opened.

"You're late." he drawled as seriously as he could.

"As if you could say anything!" the pinkette of the group protested while rudely pointing at him.

Yes little girl, but _he _was a jounin, thank you very much.

As they all sat on the steps not so far from him, he just decided to get them going on the topic of introductions and basically told them nothing about himself, because why would he even bother? It didn't matter whether they were his late sensei's son or an Uchiha, they hadn't graduated by him yet, so they weren't Team 7 either.

"Now it's your turn, from the ri-" Kakashi paused, "...ght?"

"Me! Me! My name is Uzumaki Naruko!"

The blond stopped there with a large smile, looking at him intently as if waiting for something.

But despite being momentarily taken aback, Kakashi wasn't a former Anbu for nothing, so he just acknowledged the name change, took the massive blonde pigtails in considerations, and resumed.

"So? Likes? Dislikes?"

The sharingan user saw the moment all three of the youngsters in front of him concluded he was a lost cause, most likely because he 'hadn't seen through the prank despite being a jounin'. How cute.

"Er, I like cup ramen, though Ichiraku's are better, especially when Iruka-sensei pays for them, and... I dislike waiting the three minutes it takes the cup ramen to cook... and! I dislike being told Sakura is cuter than I, because that's so untrue, and I was the best-looking _girl_ in the whole Academy back in the day!" Naruto tried once again to get a reaction out of him, leaning eagerly in his direction.

The most he got in return was a very unsubtle kick in the shin from Sakura, although it didn't quite reach and ended up hitting Sasuke who was in the middle instead.

After a profusion of excuses from the young girl to the last Uchiha, Sakura's glare focused again on the poor boy. The message in them was very clear: _I'll get you later_...

Naruto cringed a bit at that once he had finally stopped laughing at Sasuke, but decided to carry on with his role-playing and deal with Sakura's wrath later on; what was she even mad about anyway? She had been the one to suggest he carried on with his prank!

Kakashi just watched on, wondering if the youngsters thought they were being discreet.

Nevertheless, Naruto finally got to the end of his, or her, introduction.

"... Aaaand, my dream is to surpass all the previous Hokages-...and- and become the first _female_ Hokage!"

Kakashi felt his heart stop.

"-and then, everyone in the vill..a...ge ...w..ll a...owl...ed...-"

The blow was too sudden.

Without warning, the sounds around Kakashi became muffled, but he didn't realize. He felt himself grow impossibly still as a pang in his chest _ripped open_ one of the old wounds residing in there, one of the many that had never truly healed. His surroundings narrowed down to tunnel vision and all he could see was the grinning Naruto.

The resolve in his eyes proving that his words weren't just part of the prank, but his true life goal.

The unique style of speech, not quite the same but similar enough.

The feminine features that he hadn't expected in the slightest...

When he had accepted this mission from the Third Hokage, he had been prepared for heartache, for seeing a prankster kid version of his sensei whom he would have to train without letting his emotions get in the way.

But that was the thing: he had been prepared.

What he got instead and _hadn't_ been prepared for, was the ghost of her crazy, caring, lovable, stubborn girlfriend.

Kushina.

_/I'm gonna be the first female Hokage!/_

His breath hitched.

The one he had failed to protect when it really mattered.

_...Damn that kid's timing._

Kakashi took in a great breath. In. Out. Slowly. Forget it. In. Out. He'd think about it later. In. It wasn't fair of him to blame the kid. Out. The kid couldn't even know what he did wrong. In. He had no idea. In. No idea and yet... In. He was just the same as her despite the fact that he had never known nor would he ever- In. In... In... In- _Out. _

Okay, thinking like this was not a good idea. He had to remind himself that this was not Kushina despite the uncanny similarities. No red head, for one. The bright yellow he had for hair was the same shade his sensei had always tried to convince him was blond and-

He wasn't helping his case.

The whiskers; the whiskers weren't from either of his parents. They were a trait from the fox demon that was sealed into him in order to protect the village. He was a Jinchuuriki. A human sacrifice. Just like his mom, maybe, but Naruto… Naruto was his own person.

Kakashi breathed out and the world around him became focused again.

That the thought of the Kyuubi would help him center himself again even though it had caused his last loved ones' deaths was not lost on him. Oh the irony.

"K-Kakashi-sensei..."

The voice of the true Naruto was what pulled him out of any more precarious thoughts, and in front of Kakashi's very eyes, scarlet finally faded out completely from the boy's hair.

"W-what-was that...?" the boy's trembling voice whispered, immediately putting him on edge.

Something was wrong.

"You... suddenly... it felt like... pain and,... _fear_..."

"What...?" Kakashi startled at the blond's words, and finally took in the members of Team 7's' appearances.

All three were leaning away from him, as if frozen in an attempt to bolt. All three had tear tracks on their cheeks and were shaking like leaves, reduced to quivering messes as tremors traveled through their entire bodies. If one had had in mind to determine which one had lost the most color, they would have been hard-pressed to actually figure it out: the kids were all as pale as death itself.

Kakashi immediately understood what had happened and reigned in the killing intent he was subconsciously leaking out. At that level it was far from potent, but the gray-haired jounin was horrified. What had he done...?

"Kakashi-...sensei?"

Naruto was relieved he could now breathe easier, but he was still shaking uncontrollably, and his technique had been released. Their sensei looked stunned – or at least as stunned as one eye could be – so the blond Uzumaki turned to check on his teammates instead of insisting on getting an answer out of the unfamiliar man. Sasuke was breathing heavily, head in his hands, and Naruto didn't know _what to do_. This was Sasuke-teme, who was always cool as a cucumber and had never displayed this level of emotional distress in... ever! He turned towards Sakura next, and felt his throat tighten; the girl was staring unseeingly in front of her, mouth open and sweat trickling down her jawline. Her arms where hanging limply at her sides.

What could he do?!

Unbidden, a not-so-distant memory arose from the confines of his mind, as if it had been there all along, waiting to be noticed at the right time.

The feeling of a warm pair of arms around him, a body snuggling under the covers and holding him impossibly close. The sheer _**peace **_he had felt in that moment...

And then Naruto knew what he had to do.

He rubbed his wet eyes, and it took more than one try to move because his legs were so unsteady it felt like he hadn't walked in months_,_ but he did get up in the end, and slowly but surely walked to his destination.

Kakashi was lost (that's why he never got teams! He didn't have the faintest inkling on how to take care of _children!_) and had risen to his feet, but he didn't know what he could possibly do in this situation so he let Naruto do whatever he had in mind and let himself hope for the best, ready to intervene at the first sign of things going wrong..._-er_.

When he'd reached his goal, Naruto plonked tiredly down between his two teammates and rubbed his cold hands against one another. Just as his fingers warmed up a little, he formed the correct hand-seal and summoned two clones – the 'poof' of smoke not even getting a reaction out of the other two, which was, to Naruto, a very clear sign of how far gone they currently were. His two clones then performed the Oiroke no Jutsu, while he himself tentatively stretched his arms to his sides, and oh so gently laid his left hand on Sasuke's left shoulder, and his right hand on Sakura's right shoulder.

He was afraid of the reaction this might have gathered on any other occasion, but that it still _didn't _provoke a reaction bothered him even more so.

Eventually, he gathered the two remaining members of Team 7 closer to him, slowly, mindful of any sudden move, and felt the warm pressure of his Oiroke-ed clones huddled behind and embracing all three of them in that tender manner he had missed all week.

No, this was different. _This_ was even better, and Naruto decided group-hugs were now only seconds to Ichiraku's ramen on his list of favorite things in the whole world to do (Iruka-sensei was still his favorite person though, mind you), even if two-thirds of the group wasn't technically actively participating.

As close as they were, the boy could feel the unsteady pulse of both of his teammates, even above his own wildly beating heart, and the slow and steady ones of his two clones behind them. Seconds passed in silence, giving way to minutes, and as he copied his clones' breathing rhythm and held Team 7 close, he could hear Sasuke's breathing quieten and feel Sakura's frozen form loosen up.

He thought he would have a heart attack when Sasuke-teme leaned against him on his own accord – a temporary lapse of judgment? – and Sakura-chan hid her face in his shoulder while clutching his jumpsuit.

He felt the dampness on both his shoulders and decided there and then that no one was really in their normal states right now anyway, and that for the time being it would have to do.

(His heart had never beaten so fast before, yet he somehow knew it wasn't quite from fear anymore.)

* * *

_To be continued..._

* * *

**A/N: So I'm super sick and this just wrote itself? **

**I don't know anymore, I can't even-**

**Anyway, that was a lot of angst from Kakashi; he's such a tragic character isn't he? And a lot of fluff from Naru-chan who decided to replicate what felt good for him in order to comfort his teammates. Maybe Kakashi will be able to have his group hug too one day?**

**Not much from the clones on this chapter, mostly because Naruto has decided to ignore the issue.**

**(Spoiler alert: it won't last.)**

**Would you guys like to see another chapter or have you already been disgusted by the emotional roller coaster of today's? ;)**

**Special Thanks to Lord Redshocker (the name sounds so badass and I have no idea where it could come from?), Chase Network, Oblivion196, and Silently Watches (whose name kinda creeps me out haha) for their kind reviews! ;) 38 followers so far and 18 favorites, I can't believe this has had so much success, let's see if it continues after this chapter haha (cries)**

**Anyway, please leave a review on your way out so that I know what you guys think?**


End file.
